Alerts

House Bill 549, pending in the House Transportation and Safety Committee, would prohibit a local authority from issuing a total number of traffic tickets based on the use of traffic law photo-monitoring devices that exceeds two times the population of the local authority. It is one of a series of related bills designed to curtail the revenue from speed cameras or make operating speed cameras in the state as difficult as possible.

The NMA is opposed to automated traffic enforcement, including speed cameras, for a number of reasons including:

• Photo radar can generate false readings
• This type of automated enforcement emphasizes ticket volume
• There is no certifiable witness to the alleged violation
• The driver of the vehicle is not positively identified by the camera which means, by default, the owner of the vehicle receives the ticket whether or not he/she was the driver at the time of the alleged violation
• Speed cameras have not been shown to improve traffic safety